Sunday, July 26, 2015

As many of you know, until this past Friday, I had been away
from blogging here at Wild Rose Reader for over a year. There's a number of reasons
why I first cut back on my postings and then stopped writing for WRR
altogether:

A first grandchild…being a nanny granny…buying a new
home…renovating our new home…a sickness in the family…getting our old
home ready to put on the market…moving thousands of books from our old home to our new place…selling old
home…setting things up at new home…buying some
new furniture and window treatments…decorating new place…settling in…writing
for legal/political blogs…a death in the family…being a nanny granny...a second grandchild.

Allison & Julia

For sure, being a nanny granny for over three years has taken
up quite a bit of my time. After the birth of my second grandchild Allison Mary in March, my daughter and then my son-in-law took family leave to care for her.
I decided that I would use my free time during those four months to concentrate
my energies on writing poetry for children once again. After getting back into
the poetry writing groove, I realized how much I missed being part of Poetry
Friday and the kidlitosphere.

I also know how long it can take to get a picture
book published. Things to Do, my first collection of poems, will be five years
in the making! I sold the manuscript in 2011…and the book won’t be published
until the fall of 2016.

Why so long? First, it took several months for me to
edit, revise, and write new poems for my book. The published book will be quite
different from the manuscript that Chronicle Books bought. I am really
happy about that now. Melissa Manlove, my wonderful editor, had a vision for the
book that was more attuned to my original manuscript. I had added poems to my collection in hopes that it would be more attractive to book editors. (That story is for another day.) Melissa asked me to remove most of the poems that I had added.

Second, it took about eighteen months to find an
illustrator for Things to Do. Some artists were busy with other projects; some
turned down the opportunity to illustrate my poems. Then one day, Melissa sent
me links to the websites of four illustrators—and asked if I like their work. The work of one of those artists, Catia Chien, stood out in my eyes. I fell in love with her work—and hoped
with all my heart that she’d be able to illustrate my book. I was SO HAPPY when
Melissa told me that Catia had accepted the job.

I can't wait until I see my poems in a book illustrated by Catia!

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Here are some of the books that Catia has illustrated:

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Clink hereto view three of the illustrations that Catia created for my book Things to Do.

Friday, July 24, 2015

I have been away from posting at Wild Rose Reader for FAR TOO LONG! I made the decision recently to give up writing for legal/political blogs and to concentrate once again on writing poetry for children. I thought I'd post one of the poems that I had written in recent months for Poetry Friday this week. It touches on the frustrated feeling young children often get when they are told by parents, other adults, and older siblings that they are TOO LITTLE to do so many of the things that they would really love to do.

About Me

I worked as an elementary school teacher for more than three decades and as a school librarian for three years. I also taught a children's literature course at Boston University from 2002-2008. I served on the advisory board of the Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival from 2006-2008 and as a member of the NCTE Poetry Committee from 2009-2012. I am now retired and write poetry for children. "Things to Do," my first children's book, will be published by Chronicle Books in February of 2017.